“We decided to make VR a significant innovation priority for us,” said
Guillaume Lacroix, senior vice president of TV and video partnerships and
services at Orange. “This is a real new media, and we have to learn how to use
it. This first experience allows us to understand what it takes to make a great
experience.”

In the clip below, Morgan Bouchet, Orange’s vice president
of digital content and innovation, and head of VR, demonstrates watching hit
HBO series “Vinyl” in virtual reality.

A panel focused on television and digital content described live streaming as
the “fastes[t] growing area of digital”.

“It’s FOMO, fear of missing out,” Will Keenan, president of
Stream Up, told attendees. “I find it interesting that at the same time reality
TV viewership was going down … viewership of online video bloggers, who in my
mind became the new reality stars, was going way up. What was it about the
online video bloggers? It was that genuineness, that authenticity.”

“TV is hermetically sealed … What’s interesting about
YouTubers, people on Periscope and other platforms, they are aware of the
frame,” added Dan Biddle, Director of Broadcast Partnerships at Twitter UK.

eSports: “The Next Big Content Play?”

A session on the popularity of observing others play electronic games revealed just
how much time is being spent in regards to content consumption: approximately
80 million hours in one month.

“We’re going to hit $1B [in global revenues] sooner
than we realise,”saidPeter Warman, co-founder ofNewzoo. “There’s
no escaping that the interactive media space is heading [this] way at an
enormous speed.”

James Glasscock, senior vice president of business development at Machina,
talked about the ever-increasing viewer numbers.

“300 million fans of eSports is starting to rival major
leagues like the NFL and NBA in the United States,” he said.

“[eSports] are better than football, there’s constant action,
no stops for penalties or injuries … and you don’t have to abide by the laws of
physics,” chimed in Laurence Jones, commercial director at Endemol Shine Group.
“Broadcasters need to think about how they are going to tell the story, it’s a
challenge… but it’s exciting.”

To learn more about MIPTV, check out perhaps the most exciting trailer for a
conference ever below.